Posts from The most UNPOPULAR faction in Heroes 5. Auto-translated

Elves... They're a rather weak race - besides the Hunters, there aren't any decent units... Their heroes also have poor magic and abilities...

What don't you like about the Elves' abilities? Forest Fury, which gives +1 to damage. There are many other good things, and the Super Ability? It's generally the best Super Ability of all the races. Ents are simply amazing - the best units at their level. I'm even afraid of Druids when I see them on the map; I generally don't attack them. Unicorns with resistance are also good, Dancers are very strong, and I often suffer losses after them. And Fairies are

Elves... They're a rather weak race - besides the Hunters, there aren't any decent units... Their heroes also have poor magic and abilities...

Elves can't be considered weak! Archers and Druids are quite strong, plus Elves have the most proactive units. And they have plenty of abilities.

Elves are a very strong race, with many interesting tactics and very powerful archers that can be developed very quickly. Personally, my least favorite race is the Academy. I am put off by the almost complete lack of damage in half of the units and the exaggerated development of knowledge (at the expense of other stats!) in the hero.

Inferno is garbage.

It’s not common sense speaking within you, but rather the bitterness of defeat, oh brave Knight!

But it's still noticeable that the Inferno faction was significantly weakened in the 5th installment – the previous demons could attack without receiving any damage in return, and the teleportation restrictions for demons are extremely annoying.
I personally like all of them!

By the way, the retaliatory attack of the Devils was removed in the fourth game. Actually, it's not that Inferno was nerfed in the fifth part; they are VERY strong in attack, but almost zero in defense, so you need to play with them very carefully and thoughtfully... sometimes you just get tired of calculating everything, and - huge losses. Another advantage is the very good special ability of the Demon hero.

Elves... What a mediocre race - besides the Hunters, there isn't a single decent unit... The heroes' magic is also terrible, as are their abilities...

Dryads are one of the best level 1 units (initiative, speed, attack on multiple targets, retaliation).
Dancers - the upgrade makes them extremely dangerous (the damage may not be great, but their speed, initiative, and attack on all nearby enemies are).
Hunters - everyone already knows that.
Druids - both archers and spellcasters, and they are equally good at both casting spells and shooting.
Unicorns - magic resistance aura, blinding, speed, initiative - useful both in defense and attack.
Ents - the damage and initiative are small... but they move well, and I won't even talk about their defense (especially when they are entrenched... they also constantly retaliate). They can be used both in defense (to protect archers and druids) and in attack (to entangle or block anyone).
Emerald Dragons - one of the strongest level 7 units, and probably the most useful (initiative 14... speed 9... breath attack...), as they move among the first and fly very far.
Honestly, I don't know who has a better army quality than Sylvan...
Here are the racial abilities... not the best... but with skillful use, they can greatly ease the game. I also have complaints about the hero's stats... too much "knowledge"... although with a certain hero build (Expert in Chaos Magic, Rain of Arrows, Enchanted Arrow, and 3 or even 4 units of Cursed Enemy...), it might not even be enough. Light Magic will be more useful... and there is more than enough for mass spells.
Skill drops... it's a pity that Attack is rarely given... the other useful skills drop often.

If the hero is Wingael (his ability is even a bit of a cheat), then the Dungeon has a sharply reduced chance of winning (against Wingael, almost everyone has a hard time), as this guy's troops will crush the Warlock's army even before his first turn, and if they also get lucky and strike... the morale will also drop.
Ossir - starts very aggressively (he has a dozen archers from the very beginning).
Anwen - if she develops, the Cursed Enemies won't survive.
Gilraen - by the final battle, he can gather an army of dancers, who under his command turn into butchers.

So, don't criticize Sylvan if you can't play them well.

The Sylvan army is indeed one of the best, if not the best, but in my opinion, the best army-hero combination belongs to the dwarves. Rune magic is pure cheating (especially the energy rune). There's also a small correction regarding the hero descriptions: 1 - I think Anwen is just a resource gatherer, not a hero (sorry if I offended anyone); 2 - that red-haired guy, I forgot his name, the one with "Elven Fury," can also provide a reactive start - he starts with "Recruit," a ballista, and you can quickly develop "Forest Leader" to get a decent squad of Death Knights. If you rush the enemy from the beginning, it's a noticeable advantage.

Well, they just swarm you... You can play as any faction... But elves are the hardest... Dryads are usually not very effective – if there are fewer than 100 of them, their wasp swarm is useless, and with their initiative, they can only block the enemy... Dancers are one-hit wonders; they get taken out immediately in return... Well, hunters are definitely unmatched – I haven't encountered a better ranged unit... In my opinion, druid archers aren't that great, unless there are at least fifty of them... But it's hard to achieve that at the beginning of the game, and by the end, the enemy will also have a sizable army! And even though 2 lightning spells can take out 4 enemy units of level 6-7, that usually drains all the mana (well, the Archmages have enough for three spells...).
Unicorns aren't very useful either – they run around the battlefield, but don't deal much damage...
Treants – here, the big advantage is slowing down enemy units that can't shoot, in order to save your own hunters and druids from nightmares or archdevils... And the enemy immediately takes out dragons with their speed and initiative – they usually last for 2-3 hits... Yes, powerful hits... Especially the first one... But no hunters can save you against a warlock with a high spell power and meteor shower, which can wipe out 2/3 of your army with a single spell... While the rangers themselves, with their low spell power, can just go and nervously smoke a hookah in the corner with the mages...

Unicorns are effective against warlocks; by the way, they are very strong. Dancers die quickly, so it's better to use other units to retaliate – it's similar to the berserkers of the dwarves. Fairies do die quickly, and there's almost nothing you can do about it, but someone has to sacrifice themselves! By the way, when there are many druids, they shoot stronger than they cast lightning... As for attacking dragons, they can't survive alone. In general, no unit is too strong on its own, so rushing with fast units isn't always a good idea. P.S. – what kind of army is it if a single meteor shower destroys 2/3 of it? In the expansion pack, this is a very weak spell, so there shouldn't be more than

I really don't know – if you pit unicorns against nightmares, for example, unicorns have never won... And nightmares usually have a higher initiative... I won't even mention their ability to run across the entire battlefield... Although I don't play as Inferno very often – it's not my favorite faction.
I know that druids, in large numbers, are better ranged attackers than mages, but that still doesn't really save them... Although in large battles, I usually ended up with only druids left... Who, with great difficulty, managed to defeat a large number of demonesses and fire demons, whose total number was five times greater than the number of druids.
As for the analogy of dancers and berserkers, I can't say anything – I haven't had a chance to play as dwarves yet – I only finished the first campaign of the expansion pack today, so I haven't started the "dwarven" campaign or played as warlocks yet, so I don't know about the meteor shower in the expansion pack either, but in the original game, it's a powerful spell, especially with high spell power... And hunters can also be easily temporarily disabled by blinding them, until something large, thick, and strong crawls up to them or flies in and defeats most of them with one hit, or simply blocks them – their melee attacks aren't very good.

I voted for the last option. To be honest, I've only played as Humans, Demons, and Necropolis. Right now, I'm playing as Warlocks (going through the 4th campaign).

Your point is understandable, Nightly Edelweiss, but...
When playing as Winghelm, the entire Elven army moves first, followed by your first unit. And given that Elves have high initiative and if you develop leadership (morale immediately +5), it's likely that by the time your dragons or hero move, some of their units will have already moved twice. Now imagine - Cursed + upgraded luck (often +5, more often +4 - which is also good). After that, you might simply have no one left to fight with... So, tell me, what will you do first with your hero? Will you blind the hunters (of course, if you have the Blind spell) or cast Meteor Shower? You can't do both at the same time... And what about the dragons? Will you use them as expendable units to reduce the number of archers (since Ents are standing near them) or will you try to conserve them and use them more carefully?
It's not that simple... Elves are very dangerous!!!
But, for the sake of fairness, it should be said that Dark Elves can be just as dangerous...
Once, I remember playing against them with my favorite Demons. I thought, "Now I'll drain all their mana and they're done for!" First, the Dark Riders moved and killed all my Pit Lords in one hit (and there were more than 30 of them!). I was very upset and stopped playing... And that was even without magic...

With Dark Elves, if you position the Furies strategically and don't waste them as cannon fodder in small skirmishes (as the enemy usually tries to overwhelm them first), you can inflict significant damage with a single attack... Plus, if the Warlock has summoning magic and can summon a Phoenix... then no Elves will survive... Their health is well over 1000, and their attack and defense are, let's say, considerable... It's a shame that their speed and initiative aren't very high... And Dark Riders are also a force to be reckoned with, and their lizards have a nasty bite :D, especially if the hero has the Tactics skill (although it's not the most essential or common skill for Warlocks...). And the Minotaur's counterattacks aren't completely useless either...